Arts, Beats and Eats

Labor Day Weekend brings lots of festivals to Michigan, and one of the bigger ones is the Arts, Beats and Eats Festival in Royal Oak.  We've never been to it before, and since we're home until Sunday, we decided to take a drive this afternoon and check it out.  It didn't hurt that Ford was a major sponsor, so we were able to get free admission tickets for the 4 of us, and 20 tickets for food and beverages (although 20 tickets didn't go as far as we thought they would!!)

Our first stop was the Ford display where we test-drove a new Fiesta

(CUTE little car -- and we managed to fit 3 of us in the backseat! LOL)

and did some "mountain biking" in the 2011 Explorer simulator.

That new Explorer is nice -- roomy 2nd and 3rd row seats, full glass roof, very cool!

But Nicolas was ready to drive off in the Mustang . . . and Bryce was going with him!!

But cars aren't REALLY what this festival is all about . . . it's really about the music

(this is just one of the many stages set up around town)

and the food, and the art!  Throughout the streets of Royal Oak, there are booths set up -- restaurants selling samples from their menus, artists displaying their crafts, and musicians showcasing their talents.  It was a great day for walking around -- cool and a little windy, but sunny for the most part.  We had a good time -- listened to some good music, sampled some yummy food, and did quite a bit of people-watching!  Royal Oak is home to quite an eclectic crowd -- even more so than Ann Arbor!

On our way out, we saw this little guy doing tricks --

he was quite talented, and very cute!  He jumped right up there, all by himself -- I couldn't believe it!

On the homefront . . . we've been keeping busy.  We're ramping up the homeschool efforts, and have two more classes starting this week for each of the boys (English and History).  The nice thing is the flexibility -- because of my indecisiveness, we couldn't get into the campground we wanted for this weekend, but we could get in on Sunday and stay through next week.  Well, they have really good wifi, so we can just do school from there . . . so we're headed out tomorrow . . . just in time for the weather to warm back up!